CH 10.1

As a result of falling asleep twice, I arrived at school just before the start of fourth period.

“You’re lateー!”

As soon as I got to my seat, Sugiuchi came over and started teasing me.

There were a few messages from Hinagata and Sugiuchi, but I was in a hurry and didn’t have time to respond.

“Well, in a few minutes…”

“You were doing erotic things late last night, weren’t you??”

I twitched a bit remembering what happened yesterday. When I glanced at Hinagata, I saw that she had been startled and was tensing up.

“I knowー You tend to stay up late when you’ re doing something erotic.”

“I-I was not! I didn’t do anything like that.”

“You were a little late too, Hinaga-san.”

“Ehh, was I?”

When he asked her directly she shrugged and nodded her head.

“It’s unusual for you to be late, Hinaga-san. Were you talking to a senpai from the baseball club at the club building? Was that because you were late?”

Senpai from the baseball club?

I gazed at Sugiuchi, and he vaguely nodded.

“I’ve got some stuff going on.”

It was Hinagata who made an awkward smile.

“Did Nishimura-san confess his love to her?”

Sugiuchi asked in rapid succession, and I was sure he was interested. But I stopped him.

“Well, don’t be so inquisitive. Or neither Honma nor Uchinokura-san will like you.”

“Why are you bringing Honma-chan in here?”

“Why, you say…”

I wonder if it’s okay to say it in front of Hinagata..

After watching the practice game, Sugiuchi and Homma left the gym together.

Oh man, Sugiuchi shook his head in denial.

“Ahh. Here he comes. The prick brain that thinks he’s doing something erotic right away.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that.”

“Honma-chan needed a little advice. Some love advice.”

“Love advice? From you?”

“I don’t think she could have picked a better person.”

“What the h**l do you know about love?”

“I’ll return those words to you.”

Hinagata was horrified when she saw the exchange between Suguichi and me.

“Both of you, don’t fight.”

“Hinaga-san, don’t worry about this, it’s just a little joke.”

“Honma… was there no one else you could have talked to about this besides this fellow?”

It’s a pity. She seems to have ten or even a hundred male friends.

“You know what? You can’t speak for others either.”

“In many ways, I’m doing fine.”

Hmm, Sugiuchi gave me a doubtful half-look.

A girl who seemed to be a senior member of the club called Hinagata, and she stood up.

With a sigh, Sugiuchi sat down in Hinagata’s seat.

“I don’t really care who you like or who likes you. I just want everyone to have a win-win situation.”

“Win-win situation.”

“That’s right.”

“Did Nishimura-san…  confess to Hinagata?”

“I was too far away. But I could tell that the atmosphere was not friendly, so I wondered if he confessed to her.”

It’s still fresh in my mind that Nishimura-san gave me a light sarcastic remark the other day.

If he was jealous of me because I liked Hinagata, then he would be—cute, but I’m pretty sure he’s sometimes…..

Hmm, it was yesterday, and I had a bit of a bad feeling about this.

When Hinagata came back, Sugiuchi calmly said, “I borrowed your seat. I’m sorry, Hinaga-san,” and he went back to his seat.

“Did Nishimura-san say anything strange to you?”

“No. It’s alright”

I hope so.

“Don’t worry about the trouble I caused you yesterday, Tonomura-kun.”

“I’m not bothered by it.”

As I said this, the teacher came into the classroom and the lesson began.

“What did your mom do when you got home?”

I asked in a whisper, and Hinagata ran her pencil along the edge of her notebook.

‘She was angry… (sad)’

Figures.

I fell asleep and woke up to find my mom had just gotten home. She accused me of coming home in the morning, and when I told her that I had no way of contacting her because my phone died so she was not as persistent.

‘What about Ryu?’

“Ryu” means me. I guess it was too much trouble to write properly.

‘Same here.’

I made eye contact with Hinagata, and we both chuckled.

‘I pretended that I accidentally missed the last train.’

‘OK, that’s what I’ll tell her if she asks.’

Hinagata, still trying to tell me something, wrote and erased, made a puzzled face, wrote and erased again, and repeated the process, then finally showed me her notebook, as if she was satisfied with it.

‘I had a great time on my date with you, Ryunosuke!’

With a glance, Hinagata smiled shyly.

When she looked at me like that, I felt embarrassed too.

I erased the sentence I was about to show her – “Why did you lie about not having a charger?” and wrote a different one.

‘Me too.’

Hinagata hit her knees from between the legs of the desk, poking and prodding so that no one would know, and touched the corner of her mouth, which had naturally risen, with her hand to restore it.